Socialism 2026: Full Schedule

4:30pm CDT

Why Does Capitalism Suck and Why Does it Fail? An Introduction to Marxist Economics

Friday September 4, 2026 4:30pm - 6:00pm CDT

Why does capitalism produce lousy jobs, long hours, unemployment, racism, sexism, homo/transphobia, xenophobia and periodic economic crises that make things even worse? Marx's analysis of capitalism provides some key answers.

Speakers

Charlie Post

Charlie Post is a long-time revolutionary socialist and writer, and a member of the Tempest Collective.

Friday September 4, 2026 4:30pm - 6:00pm CDT
TBA

Economics

10:00am CDT

Hustle Culture vs. Solidarity

Saturday September 5, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am CDT

TBA

Hustle Culture offers working-class and poor people a false alternative to organizing that feels:: agency, aspiration, and a path that feels immediate and non-partisan. This panel examines how it shapeshifts across cultural contexts—from MLMs to Girl Boss feminism—and what its appeal reveals about blind spots in how the left communicates solidarity and collective action.

Speakers

Natalie Bencivega

Natalie Bencivenga is an award-winning journalist, producer, and media consultant based in Pittsburgh. She hosts and produces Week in Focus for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star and Just the Source for PublicSource, and is a fellow at Duquesne University's Institute for Ethics and Integrity... Read More →

Chenjerai Kumanyika

Chenjerai Kumanyika is an Assistant Professor at NYU Journalism and Program Director of the Urban Journalism Workshop. He specializes in narrative audio journalism at the intersection of race, history, and media critique. He is co-creator and co-host of Uncivil (Gimlet Media) and... Read More →

Demetrius Noble

Demetrius "D." Noble is a professor, poet, and cultural organizer specializing in African American Literature, Black class antagonisms, and Hip-Hop Studies. A member of Greensboro Socialists, his work has appeared in Tempest, Hammer & Hope, African American Review, Socialism & Democracy... Read More →

Saturday September 5, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am CDT
TBA

Economics

12:00pm CDT

Socialist Fiscal Strategy for the 21st Century: Dispatches from New York City’s New Era

Saturday September 5, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT

TBA

Socialism is sweeping America’s cities, bringing urgent questions on socialist fiscal strategy. Join researchers with New York’s Fiscal Policy Institute to discuss the fiscal issues facing NYC’s socialist movement, from supporting and expanding the movement to tax the rich to combating the myth of capital flight.

Speakers

Elizabeth Cooper

Elizabeth Cooper is the Housing Policy Analyst at the Fiscal Policy Institute. She received an MA in economics from the New School for Social Research. She is also the research coordinator for North Jersey DSA's electoral working group.

Ciarán Finlayson

Ciarán Finlayson is Communications Director at the Fiscal Policy Institute. He is a student in the economics department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, and received an MA from the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University, United K... Read More →

Zainab Firdausi

Zainab Firdausi works jointly at FPI and the Institute for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Yale writing a dissertation on US administrative state’s varying sources of political legitimacy between 1870 and 1930. Zainab... Read More →

Saturday September 5, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT
TBA

Economics

5:00pm CDT

The US and China: Imperial Rivalry in a Multipolar World

Saturday September 5, 2026 5:00pm - 6:30pm CDT

TBA

“Chimerica” is over. The twin titans of neoliberal globalization are now at loggerheads over everything from trade to high tech, geopolitical alliances, and military hegemony over the Asia Pacific. Today’s global slump, exacerbated by Trump’s disastrous war in Iran, has heightened this imperial rivalry. This panel will examine the roots of the conflict, its trajectory, and how the left can build international solidarity from below against it.

Speakers

Tobita Chow

Tobita Chow is an organizer based in the Chicago area. He researches progressive strategy, great power conflict, and international climate politics. Tobita was the founding Director of Justice is Global.

Ashley Smith

Ashley Smith is co-author of China in Global Capitalism and has written in numerous publications including Truthout, New Politics, Against the Current, and many other online and print publications.

Saturday September 5, 2026 5:00pm - 6:30pm CDT
TBA

Economics

3:00pm CDT

The Politics of Debt: Organizing in the Age of Finance

Sunday September 6, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT

TBA

As finance capital continues to reshape working class life, people are increasingly forced into debt to make ends meet. What is the political landscape of debt today, and how should we respond at the level of action? How has financialization shifted leverage across different sites of struggle, and what new contradictions or vulnerabilities has it produced for capital? Debt Collective organizers working on healthcare, education, and housing debt will discuss their work and the politics of debt in the current conjuncture.

Speakers

Socialism 2026

4:30pm CDT

Charlie Post

10:00am CDT

Natalie Bencivega

Chenjerai Kumanyika

Demetrius Noble

12:00pm CDT

Elizabeth Cooper

Ciarán Finlayson

Zainab Firdausi

5:00pm CDT

Tobita Chow

Ashley Smith

3:00pm CDT

Braxton Brewington

René Christian Moya

Lindsey Muniak

Debt Collective

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